Table Of Content

luc rombouts Singing Bronze A History of Carillon Music Singing Bronze luc rombouts Singing Bronze A History of Carillon Music With the support of The Guild of Carillonneurs In North America Lipsius Leuven is an imprint ofLeuven University Press Original title Zingend Brons. 500 jaar beiaardmuziek in de Lage Landen en de Nieuwe Wereld Authorized translation from the Dutch language edition published by Davidsfonds / Leuven © 2010 Dutch language edition by Davidsfonds / Leuven (Belgium) © 2014 English language edition by Leuven University Press / Universitaire Pers Leuven / Presses Universitaires de Louvain. Minderbroedersstraat 4, B-3000 Leuven All rights reserved. Except in those cases expressly determined by law, no part of this publication may be multiplied, saved in an automated datafile or made public in any way whatsoever without the express prior written consent of the publishers. isbn978 905867 956 7 d/ 2014 / 1869 / 31 nur667 Translation Communicationwise Design Korpershoek Ontwerpen Front cover illustration Carillon bells in the St. John’s Tower in Gouda (the Netherlands) Contents 11 Introduction part 1 –bell cultures in antiquity and the middle ages chapter 1 –The magic of old bells 15 A fruit with pith 17 A world of sounds 18 Made in China 21 Jingle Bells 24 Bellmen chapter 2 –The time of God 27 The daily call to prayer 28 Europe of Bells 30 The appearance of the medieval bell 32 Church doctrine and popular belief 35 Tolling for political ends chapter 3 –The time of man 39 A day in the city 40 Tolling for special events 43 New bell casting techniques 46 The bell-founder in action chapter 4 –The bondage of time 49 Clocks in monasteries and cathedrals 52 Measuring time in the open air 55 The signal becomes music – 5– singing bronze part 2 –the old carillon art chapter 5 –A new musical instrument 59 Making music with bells 61 The terms beiaardand carillon 62 Further development of the new musical instrument 65 The first founders of carillon bells chapter 6 –Carillon music in a divided land 71 Why in the Low Countries? 74 Good and bad songs 78 Bells as commodity 80 The oldest carillon books chapter 7 –Pure bells 85 A blind nobleman with a keen sense of hearing 88 François Hemony 90 The Hemonys’ secret 91 Pieter Hemony 94 The Hemony legacy chapter 8 –Carillon music at the court 97 The successors of the Hemonys 100 The carillons ofPeter the Great 103 Carillons for the young Prussians 105 Royal extravagance in Portugal chapter 9 –The Bach of the carillon 109 Peter Vanden Gheyn, monk and entrepreneur 111 Matthias Vanden Gheyn, virtuoso carillonneur 115 Andreas JozefVanden Gheyn, talented bell-founder 119 The descendants of the Vanden Gheyns – 6– contents chapter 10 –Panorama of the old carillon art 121 The bells 122 The automatic mechanism 126 Manual playing 127 The carillonneurs 129 The carillon repertoire 133 The audience 135 The fate of the French Low Countries part 3 –the new carillon art chapter 11 –National Carillon 139 Carillon music riding the waves of politics 141 The confiscation of bells in the Southern Low Countries 145 Gradual restoration of the bell stock 146 The Northern Republic in the French era 148 Napoleon’s bell chapter 12 –The carillon as romantic symbol 149 The carillon, an old instrument 152 Literary interest in bells and carillons 158 The carillon at the service of nationalism chapter 13 –In search of the sound of the past 165 Bell-founding in the 19th century 168 Innovations in keyboard construction 173 Rediscovery of the art of bell tuning chapter 14 –A soul in peace, among the stars 177 A carillonneur with an interest in technique 181 Enchanting Monday evenings 185 The vision of the master 187 An American much interested in carillons – 7– singing bronze chapter 15 –The broken bells of Flanders 191 War rages over Belgium 195 The voice of fallen carillons 200 Carillon war in the Netherlands 205 Bells of victory chapter 16 –Memorial bells 207 A school for carillonneurs 209 Carillon sounds across the Atlantic 214 Rockefeller and his Belgian carillonneurs 218 The race for bigger and heavier 222 Contours of a new carillon culture 225 New carillons in other parts of the world chapter 17 –New carillon construction in the Old Country 229 Belgian and English influence in the Netherlands 231 Protectionist reflexes in Belgium 235 Malaise among the Belgian bell-founders 238 Belgian carillons in the United States 240 The Mechelen carillon school during the interwar period chapter 18 –‘The bells fight with us’ 249 Nazi bells 251 Carillon music in occupied territory 256 The confiscation ofbells in Europe 263 Liberation chapter 19 –Dutch manufacture versus Carillon Americana 267 The return of the bells 271 Reconstruction in the Low Countries 275 A carillon without bells 278 Carillon battle in the Vatican pavilion – 8– contents chapter 20 –Innovations in the Old and the New World 285 American Beauty 289 The American carillon movement 293 Acid rain in Europe 296 Using the computer 305 Carillon music in the East chapter 21 –Panorama of the new carillon art 309 The carillons of the world 312 Carillon organizations 314 Carillonneurs and their audience 318 The diversity of carillon music 321 A future for the carillon 325 Sources and acknowledgements 327 Notes 337 Bibliography 351 Origin of the illustrations 353 Indices – 9–